Redacted

Brian De Palma returns to his renegade filmmaking roots with this fictionalized version of the real-life incident in which U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi teen and killed her family. The film’s structure is imaginative and challenging; we view events through faux video journals, a more staid French documentary, Web site streams and the point of view of closed circuit cameras. De Palma’s script, however, is uneven at best—the dialog is stilted and ridiculously expository, while his attempts to offer balance (strategically placed “good” Americans and “bad” Iraqis) dilute the radical message of the film.

Shelf Talk: Although Redacted did lackluster box office in its theatrical run, it did attract an enormous amount of press due to Bill O’Reilly’s series of pronouncements slamming the picture. Thus, viewers left and right will be curious to see the picture, so expect it to do steady business on the new release shelf.